NFL To Name New Medical Chief, Bringing Hope For Cannabis Concussion Treatment

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the league's chief medical officer Dr. Elliot Pellman will be retiring and that a new chief medical officer will be put in place.

Goodell wrote in a memo that the new medical officer would help ensure that the clubs have access to the most up-to-date information and that research funds are spent in an effective and targeted way.

FILe - In this Oct. 4, 2015, file photo, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin, left, drags Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman into the end zone on a five-yard touchdown run during the second quarter of an NFL football game, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco, File)

One area that the league didn't research is how medical marijuana has been found to be very effective with neurological issues. Dr. Marcel Bonn-Miller recently spoke at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo in New York and said, “The NFL spent $100 million on concussion research and none of it was on cannabinoids or CBD's.”

Many football players say they use medical marijuana in order to address concussion issues, but face the scrutiny of drug testing or worse yet, being ridiculed by ESPN anchors. One anchor, when discussing the subject laughed and said the players just want to get high and use medical marijuana as a cover.

One problem facing the players is that there haven't been any studies to support their thesis and anecdotal evidence. Dr. Stuart Titus of Kannalife Sciences said that to date there has only been animal testing. However, he did point to a UCLA study on young adults that had suffered traumatic brain injury. Of the 450 in the study, the patients that had been regular cannabis users were 80% more likely to survive a traumatic brain injury.

“From that we deduced that cannabinoids are a tremendous neural protector,” said Dr. Titus. Kannalife currently holds an exclusive license with the National Institutes of Health to develop therapeutic uses for cannabinoids as a neuroprotectant. The company is working with Temple University to study a molecule that is superior to CBD and he believes could “knock out this whole CTE issue.” CTE refers to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy which is a degenerative brain disease that stems from repetitive trauma to the head.

Titus said that Temple is using grants from the NCAA and the DOD (Department of Defense) to study the effects of CBD on brain injuries. Titus also said, “There have been two pretty significant animal studies in mice, where CBD has been able to foster neuroregenerative results – grow new brain cells and new nerve cells at a certain pace. It's the holy grail of neurological medicines.”

This would be welcome news to professional football players. Dr. Pellman was also criticized for not being forthright with players about the risks of brain injuries or receiving thorough information on injuries.